Bread Pudding

This is a fantastic bread pudding. It is very quick and easy and delicious. In this recipes I have used French bread. However, you can use any bread that you want. White bread is probably tastier than using whole wheat bread. This is a great dessert or even a great breakfast dish. I got some really terrific pictures this time, hope you enjoy them as well.

Ingredients
half a loaf of french loaf or 6-7 bread slices, cut into cube of about an inch
2 cups milk
3 eggs - well beaten
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar (optional - use this if you like sweeter dishes or if you are making this for dessert)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp ground cinnamon powder
2 tbsp butter, diced into small pieces
3 tbsp raisins
handful of pecans

Method
Spread the bread pieces in a layer at the bottom of the baking pan. Dot/sprinkle the bread with the diced butter pieces. Also sprinkle the raisins and pecans over the bread. Beat together the milk, sugar, vanilla essence and cinnamon powder. Add this mixture to the beaten eggs. Mix it all together. The resultant mixture will be frothy. Then pour this mixture into the baking tin. Make sure that all the bread pieces get soaked with the mixture.
Bake this at 350F for 40-45 minutes.

Eat warm. It tastes great with a whipped cream or vanilla ice cream topping.

Tips
The raisins do add some more sweetness to the pudding, so you can adjust the sweetness based on your specific tastes. Also, white sugar is sweeter than brown sugar, so you can substitute based on your preference. This is a very forgiving recipe and easy too, so you can experiment with it.

Patra/ Alu Wadi - Taro Leaf Rolls

The entire taro plant is edible. The leaves as well as the root bulbs can be convered into delicious preparations. Taro is also known as colocasia. In Hindi it is called "arbi/arvi" and in Marathi "alu". Taro leaves are long and broad and deep green in color, while the taro root looks like a potato with a fibrous covering. Taro leaves cannot be eaten raw but taste great as rolls or in a curry.  Taro leaf rolls are called "Paatra/Patra" in Gujarati and in Marathi these are called "Alu Wadi/Vadi".  Alu wadi is a beautiful, delicious and healthy snack. It is rare that I find taro leaves in the store, so when I do, I buy a bunch. If the leaves are big enough that they can be rolled up, I make taro rolls. If not, I end up making a sweet and sour gravy called "patal bhaaji".

I recently planted taro and am eagerly waiting for the leaves to sprout. This is a low maintenance plant and the only requirement is plenty of water. The easiest way to plant it is to get some taro roots from the grocery store(with the fibrous covering, not the peeled one). After a few days, the root will start forming buds. At this point, you can transfer it to a pot/ground. Make sure that the root is watered regularly and you should see the leaves soon.

Ingredients
For the rolls
4-5 large taro leaves
1 cup besan/chick pea flour/ gram flour
1.5 tsp corn starch/flour or rice flour
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
red chilli powder to taste
1.5 tsp goda masala/kala masala
2 tsp sesame seeds
pinch of asafoetida/hing
2 tsp tamarind paste
2-3 tsp jaggery
1/2 - 1 cup water

For the seasoning
1 tbsp oil
1/8 tsp mustard seeds
1/8 tsp cumin seeds
pinch of asafoetida
2-3 green chillies, slit
8-10 curry leaves (optional)

Method

Preparing the leaves
Wash and dry the leaves, by patting them with a towel. Chop the stem off and discard. Turn the leaf over and take a rolling pin and roll this over the underside of the leaf so that the stem and the veins in the leaf break. If the veins are very thick, then trim them a little by running the knife blade parallel to the leaf and scraping off the vein. This is needed so that the leaf can be rolled easily. Do this for all the leaves.

Preparing the filling for the roll
Combine the rest of the roll ingredients except water and mix together. Then, add a little water at a time to make a paste/batter. The consistency of the batter should be paste like, so it can be easily spread. It should not be too thin or runny. It should be thick enough so that you can spread it over the leaf to form a thin even layer.

To prepare the roll
Spread this gram flour mixture over the underside of a leaf to coat the entire leaf in an even layer. Then, place the next leaf on top of this layer and spread the next layer of the gram flour mixture. Do this till you have used up about 3-4 leaves. You should have a stack with alternate layer of leaves and the gram flour mixturre. Layer about 3-4 leaves on top of each other at a maximum. Then roll this stack into a tight roll.

To cook the roll
Once all the rolls are rolled up, arrange these in a shallow vessel. Steam cook them for about 15 minutes till cooked completely. This can be steam cooked using a pressure cooker, Instant Pot or a regular pot which is deep enough to hold the vessel. Once the roll is cooked through, the roll will remain tightly rolled and will not unravel. It will take on a brownish color. Once the rolls cool down, slice these rolls into 1/4 -1/2 inch thick slices.

The rolls are ready to eat at this point. However, they taste great if they are crisped up a bit. To do this you can shallow fry or even deep fry them till they are brow and crisp. I prefer to shallow fry. To shallow fry, add a couple of tsps of oil to a pan and heat it. Then add the rolls to the pan and cook them on both sides till the roll slice is nicely browned and crisp.

Add a little seasoning over the roll slices before serving. To make the seasoning, heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds. Once they crackle add the cumin seeds, hing and sesame seeds. Add the green chillies and curry leaves. Pour the seasoning on the rolls. The seasoning can be added over the steamed rolls as well as the fried ones.

These can be served as appetizers or snacks.

Tips
The leaves can sometimes cause the throat to itch upon eating, so it is important to include tamarind as an ingredient in taro leaf recipes. The acid in tamarind helps counter act this and makes sure that your preparation will be itch-free. Goda masala is a masala used in Maharashtra. It has ingredients like sesame seeds, dessicated coconut. Use dhana-jeera (corriander-cumin) powder if you don't have goda masala.

Celebrating My 100th Post! A Drink and a Few Tips

I can't believe that I am at my 100th post! And what is a better than to celebrating it with a celebration drink recipe and also, providing a lot of tips and tricks that  I have come to rely on a daily basis.

I generally spend about 30-45 minutes on daily meals and try very hard to not spend more time. Family, work, and chores have higher priorities and my goal is to make healthy, tasty and wholesome meals in the minimum time possible. So I am sharing a few tips that come in handy and make the cooking process much easier. So, if you a beginner, don't despair, things just get easier.

If you are a beginner or just want to reduce time in the kitchen here are a few tips that will come handy.

Tip 1: Do preparation work over the weekend or when you have some free time. This includes things like chopping different vegetables and storing them in ziploc bags or boxes. Vegetables that last well in the fridge for 3-4 days are onions, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, cucumber.

Tip 2: You can knead dough and portion it out into appropriate quantities and then freeze it in an airtight container. It freezes beautifully. Then, thaw it during the day or overnight in the fridge, on the day you want to use it. Then prepare fresh rotis as needed.

Tip 3: If you don't want to roll out a lot of rotis on a daily basis, roll out the amount you need for 3-4 days and refrigerate. When you want to reheat, wrap it in a damp towel and then microwave for about 30 seconds. Serve the rotis hot, when they are soft. Try to minimize the number of times you re-heat for the freshest taste.

Tip 4: Plan ahead. Decide on a few menu options that you can prepare during the week. Then, make sure you buy the necessary items when you do your weekly grocery run. When you know what you are going to prepare that week, it's easier. You can decide on what kind of preparations you can do to facilitate the daily task.

Tip 5: A complete meal needs to have components like carbohydrates, protiens and vitamins. So, pick and combine different dishes,  so that you are including all these components in just a couple of dishes. Then you do not need to make elaborate or  multiple dishes to accomplish that. I will be putting together a list of various menus that you can use as a quick reference. Coming soon - watch out for it.

Tip 6: This is probably the most useful tip - use a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers are absolutely wonderful devices. They reduce cooking time is drastically. So if it's a recipe where there is a possibility, then do it. You will note how much time it helps you save. This is very noticable when you are cooking any kinds of beans, lentils or rice.

Finally here is the recipe I promised. This drink is the perfect accompaniment to any celebratory dinner.

Creamy Citrus Mocktail
1 cup orange juice
juice of 1 lemon
2-3 tbsp simple syrup
club soda
vanilla icecream
lemon slices

Method
Mix together the orange juice, lemon and the simple syrup. Taste it to adjust the sweetness. Add more syrup if needed. When you are ready to serve it, pour the syrup and juice mixture into the glasses. Top it with some club soda (about 1/4 cup per glass) to create the fizz and then add a scoop of vanilla icecream to the drink. Garnish the glass with a slice of lemon.

Enjoy with your celebratory dinner. Also seen in these photos - Boondi Raita, Shahi Palak Biryani and Apple Cobbler.

Tips
To make simple syrup, heat 1 cup of water and dissolve one cup of sugar in it. Turn off the heat once the sugar is dissolved and let it cool. Simple syrup is ready.

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies - An Oxymoron? - Maybe not!

The last thing I think of while devouring... umm eating cookies, is "healthy eating". Cookies translate to something sweet and decadent. At this point, you are probably wondering - what's up with this title then! Please read on. I enjoy cookies as much as the next person, but I also feel guilty after eating them (what's the saying? once on the lips, forever.... ).  It so happens that I run down to the cafe a couple of times a week, to get an afternoon snack, but faced with limited options, I end up getting chips or cookies. This just adds to my guilt. So, finally I decided it would be a better idea if I made cookies with healthy ingredients, cut back on the sugar and fat. Homemade is the best right? So, I used oatmeal, whole wheat flour, wheat bran and apple sauce. The end result was healthy and akin to granola bars. The texture is more on the "cracker" side because I baked them till they were well browned and no longer soft. (Of course you can stop when they are cooked through if you like soft cookies.) Now, there is no guilt, I can indulge and  it is a great to go breakfast. Tasty, filling and sweet minus the decadence. The best part is that my family loved it too.

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tbsp wheat bran
2 cups rolled oats (not the quick 1 min cook ones)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup raisins

Method
Grease a cookie sheet/ baking sheet and heat the oven to 350F. Sieve together the whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the wheat bran and mix with a whisk. In another bowl, whisk together the egg and vanilla extract. To it add the melted butter, apple sauce, both sugars and mix well. To this add the wheat flour mixture and stir till ingredients are mixed. Then fold in the rolled oats. Using an icecream scoop or two spoons, scoop a little mixture into small dollops onto the sheet. Make sure you leave a couple inches between the dollops, as the cookies will expand while baking. Bake the cookies for about 20-30 minutes or more till they are brown. I baked them till they were well browned and dry. If you prefer soft cookies, stop baking when they are light brown and cooked through.

Tips
You can substitute the white sugar with brown sugar as well. The cookies will be a little less sweet. Brown sugar is white sugar mixed with molasses. I am not sure how much healthier it is compared to white sugar, but the resultant dishes are definitely  less sweet.

Idli - Steamed Rice and Urad Dal Cakes

This is probably the easiest recipe to start off with to make your foray into the world of batter, idli and dosa. Another advantage -  possessing a high wattage blender is not a requirement to make this recipe. Urad dal, one of the components, can be easily ground in regular blenders. The other main component is idli rava. This can be easily found in your local Indian grocery store or online. This is my mother-in-law's recipe and results in delicious idlis. You can also use the dosa batter to make idli (see tips below). The main difference between idli and dosa batters is the consistency of the batter, before it is used to make the end product. For dosa, the batter needs to be thinned out, like crepe batter. For idlis the batter needs to be thicker, the consistency should be similar to cake batter. This idli batter can also be used to make uttapas, which are rice pancakes with vegetables, but that's another post.

Ingredients
1 cup urad dal
2 cups idli rava
water
salt

Equipment
Idli stand

Method
Soak the urad dal with enough water to cover the dal and with about 1 inch of water above the urad dal. This needs to be soaked for about 6-8 hours or overnight. Then grind the urad dal to a very fine paste. As you grind it fine, it will become fluffy and will have a soft texture. You need to grind it fine enough, so that it resembles whipped up eggs or whipped cream. Then take the idli rava and add enough water to it so that it is wet. I generally add water to the bowl with the idli rava, mix the two together and drain excess water using a strainer. Then add this idli rava to the urad dal. Mix them well together. If the mixture is very thick, add some water so that it is easy to mix the two ingredients together. Take care when you add water to make sure that you don't make the batter too watery. Then place this batter in a warm place for 6-8 hours/overnight to ferment.

When the batter has fermented, mix it well. Add some water if it's thickened. The consistency should be thick but the batter should easily fall when you use a spoon to scoop it up and let it fall back into the bowl. Add salt to the batter before you begin cooking your idlis. A very important piece of equipment to make idlis is an "Idli Stand". This is used to shape the batter into individual idlis. Grease the idli stand moulds with a little oil. Then add a scoop of batter to each mould. Steam this for about 15 minutes. I time it for 15 minutes once I see the water boiling and steam coming out of the steamer. I generally use a pressure cooker and steam the idlis in it (see tips).

The idlis will rise as they cook and will become light and fluffy.  To check if the idli is cooked, prick the center of one idli with a knife and it will come out fairly clean. Generally, a little idli may get stuck, but it should not be raw batter. Once cooked, unmould using a spoon or knife. Serve with chutney and sambar.

Tips

If you decide to use the dosa batter, make idlis when the batter is fresh. As the batter ages, the idlis will not rise that well and will start becoming denser. To steam idlis in the pressure cooker, follow the instructions on your cooker. If you have a cooker with a whistle, remove the whistle. Make sure that you add enough water, so that it doesn't evaporate completely during the cooking process. If you don't have an idli stand, an alternate is to use small steel bowls which are safe to use for steaming.

Coconut Chutney

Coconut chutney is an absolute must when eating dosa or idli. One can get always get away with dry chutneys called "podis" or even  ketchup. But if you want to have an authentic experience, fresh coconut chutney is the only way to go. It is a very easy recipe. The only time consuming portion of the recipe would be processing the coconut. However, I have a couple of short cuts listed in the tips below that will make this task easy and fast.  

Ingredients
Half a coconut, fresh, grated or sliced into pieces (you can use frozen, grated coconut as well)
1-2 green chillies
1/4 cup of roasted gram (dall)
salt to taste
water to grind the above ingredients into chutney
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp urad dal
1 green chilli, cut into small pieces
1/8 tsp mustard seeds/rai
3-4 curry leaves
a pinch of asafoetida/hing
Method
Grind together the coconut, green chillies, roasted gram and salt.  Add enough water so that the ingredients are easily ground together to form the chutney. It takes about 1/4th cup of water in my blender. In a small pan, heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds. Once they begin to crackle and pop, add the urad dal, curry leaves, asafoetida and chilli. Once the urad dal turns light brown, pour this seasoning over the chutney. Mix well. Serve with dosa and idli.

Tips
I have used frozen, grated coconut to make chutneys before. However I have noted that the frozen coconut tends to spoil very fast if not used in a couple of weeks after buying it. Also, the chutney texture is not very nice. It does not blend well and the oil tends to separate and rise to the surface as the ingredients are ground together. So, these days I make chutney with fresh coconut. Often times, I will buy a couple of coconuts when I have time to process it. I remove the coconut from the shell, and slice it into small pieces. I then heat these pieces in the microwave or on the stove for a minute. Once they cool, I pack these into ziploc bags and freeze them. This method ensures that the frozen coconut lasts for at least 4-6 weeks in the freezer. Whenever I need to make chutney, I remove these slices and either thaw them before processing or use the "ice crush" setting on my blender to make the chutney. I use the cusinart 600 W blender, which does a great job of processing the coconut. To thaw the coconut, use the thaw option on your microwave or thaw it for a few hours in the refrigerator.